Hymns is an

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Originally consisting of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

natives Brian Harding (vocals, guitar) and Jason Roberts (guitar,

wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

), the band picked up

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

-based rockers Tony Kent (drums) and Matt Shaw (bass guitar) upon arriving in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Since debuting with the "infectious"You R Here: MTV News Live Music Coverage » Hymns Deliver Southern-Fried Preview Of Upcoming LP
'' Brother/Sister'' the Hymns have been steadily gaining in popularity, appearing with such headliners as

Ben Kweller Benjamin Lev Kweller (born June 16, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. A former member of Radish, Kweller has released six solo albums and appeared on several collaborations. Early life Ben Kweller was born in Sa ...

Hot Hot Heat Hot Hot Heat is a Canadian indie rock band from Victoria, British Columbia, formed in 1999. The band was signed by Seattle label Sub Pop in 2001 and released its first EP, ''Knock Knock Knock'', and first full-length album, '' Make Up the Break ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

, and the Sam Roberts Band. In 2008, the band released their second album, ''

Travel in Herds ''Travel in Herds'' is the second studio album by the band Hymns. It was released by Blackland Records on March 11, 2008. Since the release of this album, Hymns have been recognized by ''Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (text ...

,'' on the

Blackland Records Blackland Records is an independent record label that was incorporated in 2005 by John Kent and Tim Wheeler. Corporate history Following John Kent's stint playing drums for Ben Kweller and Radish, businessman Tim Wheeler joined forces with the ...

label. ''

Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

'' named them as one of the artists to watch in 2008.

Background

The band is a result of a lifelong friendship between Brian Harding and Jason Roberts, who formed it while attending

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. Following their graduation, the power-duo temporarily disbanded, with Roberts joining the

band while Brian relocated to

. During Roberts' stint with

, the lead guitarist met and became close with band-member John Kent, who went on to form

located in

Celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

, TX. After hearing some of the band's work, John quickly signed the band in 2005, along with Roberts, who quit his day job to jump back on board. During recording sessions at "The Vault" (

), the band met up with Matt Shaw and Tony Kent, two local musicians who shared the band's common background of being childhood friends. With the addition to the band, Brian and Jason's dream had finally become a reality, and the group quickly started the recording process, releasing their debut album '' Brother/Sister'' in the Fall of 2006. This record release generated national attention with publications such as ''

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

News started taking notice. With their newly acquired popularity, the band appeared with popular artists, including

, the Redwalls, and Butch Walker. Amidst national tours, the band returned to the studio in 2007 to record their second album, ''

'', which was released in the spring of 2008.http://www.hymnsband.com/withmusic.html Concert Review: Travel in Herds During SXSW 2009, Hymns hired Nick Stewart as UK Management. They released new tracks, via the Appaloosa EP, on July 21, 2009. Joey McClellan and Austin Schumacher join the band for this third installment of addicting sounds.

Members

* Brian Harding (vocals, guitar) * Jason Roberts (guitar, Wurlitzer) * Joey McClellan (gass guitar) * Austin Schumacher (drums)

Discography

*'' Brother/Sister'' (2006, Blackland Records) *''

'' (2008, Blackland Records) *'' Appaloosa EP'' (2009, Blackland Records)

Notes

References

# Norris, John. "Hymns Deliver Southern-Fried LP." MTV News Blog. January 22, 2008
Hymns:MTV News Blog
# D'Amato, Anthony. "Artist of the Day." Spin Magazine. February 28, 2008
Artist of the Day
# Hymns. "Artist Bio." Hymnsband.com
Hymns: Official Bio
# All Music "Hymns Bio." All Music.com Hymns Music Bio# Petrusich, Amanda. "Review: Travel in Herds." Spin Magazine. March 2008
Concert Review: Travel in Herds
# The New Yorker. "Pianos: Concert Review." The New Yorker. January 1, 2008
Pianos: Concert Review
# Norris, John. "Hymns Deliver Southern-Fried LP." MTV News Blog. January 22, 2008
Hymns:MTV News Blog
# Broken Guitar Strings. "Review: Travel in Herds." Broken Guitar Strings
Album Review: Travel in Herds

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hymns (Band) Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Brooklyn